


The Invasion (Podfic Version Cover Art)

by DarkMK



Series: Animorphs Aloud [1]
Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: Alien Invasion, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Multi, Narrated by Jake, Podfic, Podfic Length: 3-3.5 Hours
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-25
Updated: 2019-06-02
Packaged: 2020-01-31 06:15:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 27
Words: 135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18585463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkMK/pseuds/DarkMK
Summary: "Just tell them we're Animorphs.""Tell them we're what?""Idiot teenagers with a death wish."The first book of the Animorphs series,The Invasion, tells the story of how it all begins: five teenage humans who stumble into a covert intergalactic war being fought right under their noses. Given a single powerful weapon from a dying alien - the ability to morph into any animal they touch - they must decide whether to fight against an almost invisible enemy, knowing that the fate of all mankind hangs in the balance...Cover artfor a fan-produced audiobook version.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **UPDATE**  
>  This work is now for the Cover Art ONLY. Don't worry, the audiobook still exists and will never be deleted, but the hyperlinks to the chapters here will be disabled. The link to the external website can be found in my profile, and the series can also be found on Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Itunes. Thank you to the listeners out there who gave me kudos and feedback - they are some of the bright spots in my life, and each is special treasure.
> 
> * * *
> 
> Hello, everyone! I am back with a new audio project! As some may know, I am a beginning audiobook narrator and I absolutely love reading aloud. But I am between contracts at the moment, and wanted to take the chance to hone my craft a bit more, so I decided to practice on a fantastic series from my childhood which solidified my love for scifi, and has a great selection of diverse characters. 
> 
> There are several other wonderful fan-productions already out there, and I don't want to try to compete with those, but just want express my love for the series in my own small way. This series won't have music or sound effects, but I will have separate character voices and special effects for things such as thought-speak. 
> 
> Since the chapters are so nice and short, I hope to upload a new one every couple of days or so. Whether I can continue with the series from there, who can say? I would certainly love to do so! Thanks for listening!
> 
> The series can also be found on Spotify [here](https://open.spotify.com/show/6uGEmokA81q3lqScCoOicb?si=YQWNNj6kTB6FzSHN6upIvg).

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/182775577@N07/48330469806/in/dateposted-public/)

**Chapter 1**

Length: 8:18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Electronic copies of the books used for reading were retrieved from [Richard's Animorphs Forum](animorphsforum.com) and from [Magiobiwan on Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/Animorphs/comments/3litxl/reformatted_ebook_editions_download_links/).


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Length: 9:42

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think of the thoughtspeak effects!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Length: 8:52


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Length: 8:40

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not quite sure if I'm happy with this chapter. I re-recorded several sections, and maybe should've just redone the whole thing, but well. It is what it is. It's not awful, I'm just not sure if it's as good as it should be.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm especially proud of this chapter, I have to say! There's a nice special effect near the end that I really enjoyed working on, and I'm very happy with how it turned out. Enjoy!

**Chapter 5**

Length: 10:18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The sounds I used in this episode were from the following sources:  
> https://freesound.org/people/icyjim/sounds/435207/  
> http://soundbible.com/768-Monster-Growl.html
> 
> Also, there are a few times throughout the Animorphs series where something is initially stated to be one way, but is later changed, or is a mistake by the author (KASU - Katherine Applegate Screw Up). Some of these were fixed in the 2011 reprints, so I have decided that I will follow suit and alter the text to match the intended canon where necessary. For this chapter, it is the sections where the kids wonder if Visser Three can hear their thoughts (originally implied to be possible if they weren't careful), and Visser Three and Elfangor's first lines of dialogue (originally implied to be their first meeting).


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think of the Hork-Bajir voices! I'm trying to decide if I should add some kind of effect (like a growly undertone?) or something. I'd love feedback!

**Chapter 6**

Length: 7:35


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lack of chapter yesterday! In compensation, have two chapters today!

**Chapter 7**

Length: 7:49

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> KASUs modified in this chapter: Tobias' fingers no longer being sliced up after morphing.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that this is the second of two chapters that were uploaded today! :)

**Chapter 8**

Length: 5:33

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> KASUs modified in this chapter: Tobias hearing Jake's thoughts to match later canon of thoughts-speak only being possible in morph.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Length: 9:04

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The source of the barking dog sound was from here:  
> https://freesound.org/people/roman_cgr/sounds/415023/


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Length: 9:50


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Length: 8:49


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update! Whew, just squeaked in before midnight there. Also, I'm out of town the next couple of days, and might not get the chance to edit/upload any chapters. We'll see!
> 
> Also: I went back and redid the Hork-Bajir lines in Chapter 6, cause I just wasn't happy with them, so if anyone wants to hear the new voice (and give their opinion!), they're at the 4:20 and 4:33 mark, respectively.

**Chapter 12**

Length: 8:31


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was ready to go last night, except that I had to rerecord a couple of lines, and wasn't able to get to it in time. But I'm going to try to finish the next chapter today as well, and upload that one this evening, too, so it will be like I only missed one day instead of two!

**Chapter 13**

Length: 6:38


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be aware that this is the second update of today!

**Chapter 15**

Length: 7:17


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Length: 7:14


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Length: 6:31


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for missing yesterday! I was gone for nearly 12 hours, helping my dad on a job site, and was just too wore out to work on it. But to make up for that (and for the fact that this one is really short), I'm going to try and get the next one edited and put up as well!

**Chapter 17**

Length: 4:17


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that this is the second chapter of today!

**Chapter 18**

Length: 5:17


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this wasn't up last night! But it's a nice long one! The longest by far.

**Chapter 19**

Length: 15:23


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

Length: 6:10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tiger sound effects used in this episode came from the following sources:  
> https://freesound.org/people/videog/sounds/149190/  
> https://freesound.org/people/schots/sounds/439280/


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

Length: 7:24


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew! Busy, busy week! Sorry for the lack of updates! I'll try to be better this week, especially as we're so close to the end of book 1!

**Chapter 22**

Length: 7:21


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

Length: 5:05


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short one, sadly, but hey, we're only three chapters from the end now! Book 1 should be finished by this weekend!

**Chapter 24**

Length: 3:57


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It...still counts as Thursday, right? Even though it's the wee hours of the morning? So this is _technically_ not late, right?

**Chapter 25**

Length: 6:54


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one more chapter to go!

**Chapter 26**

Length: 4:51


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that is it for Book 1! Wow! What a nice little trip. I hope that you all enjoyed it! I look forward to continuing in Book 2!

**Chapter 27**

Length: 4:17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I've decided that the last chapter of each podfic will include my personal thoughts on the book as well! Therefore, here are my thoughts on _The Invasion_ :
> 
> I felt that this was a great start to the series. Each character is established, and has distinguishable quirks, but there is plenty of room for how the characters can develop as the series continues. All the necessary set-up is there as well: locations for adventures, basic rules for the world/tech, a terrifying villain. Some of the details were not quite ironed out at the beginning (like some of the morphing details, the thought-speak capabilities, etc), but the premise behind it all was remarkably solid. It had a good threat, and a power with lots of potential but also enough limiting factors to not make the kids invincible. I'm very impressed by the creativity of this series. K. A. Applegate and Michael Grant had a lot of really cool ideas and implemented them well. 
> 
> I also admire them for really pushing the envelope in some ways. For example, this book is DARK. There's a lot of violence and even gore, especially considering that this is a "kids" series. If this were a TV series or movie (and, God willing, I hope it is someday!), it would definitely be Teen and Up/PG-13 material. The only thing that saves it from being too mature for its audience is that it's in written form instead of visual. But it's definitely not something I would recommend for all kids, or even all adults. I do like, however, that it doesn't try to be 'grown-up' in other ways, for example, by inserting language, drugs, or sexual content. When I discovered this series at age 14, it was just the right amount of adult to make me feel like I was reading a more mature series for the more 'mature' me, but not so far ahead as to make me feel completely disconnected from the books of my childhood. 
> 
> Also, it's impressive that this book doesn't have a happy ending. Yes, they survived, but the Animorphs fail to rescue Tom, end up traumatized and demoralized, and Tobias becomes a casualty of war. That's _really_ unusual. Nearly every other book/series I read at that age tended to wrap everything up in a neat little bow (and the few that didn't were usually ones I hated and never reread). But this is book was strong enough as a whole, and had enough optimism and humor elsewhere, that it offset the difficult ending, and made me return to it again and again over the years. 
> 
> Perhaps the only major nitpick I had was the extreme use of foreshadowing regarding Tobias. There were at least four obvious hints regarding his eventual fate, and I felt like I was really rolling my eyes by the last couple. That could just be my approach as an adult, though. As a kid, I don't know that I would have picked up something more subtle. 
> 
> Overall, I'd say this is a strong 9/10, and a great start to the series to follow. I hope that you enjoyed my reading of it, and thank you for coming along for the ride! I'll see you next book!


End file.
